GIFT GUIDE: Wine Lovers

With the holiday season drawing near, it’s about time to start gift hunting for your friends, family and loved ones. If you have a wine aficionado on your list, then we can make your life a little easier by recommending a few gifts for wine lovers of every stripe. Check out our top 10 gift ideas for wine lovers!

1. FastFerment Winemaking Starter Kit

For aspiring home vintners who haven’t yet taken the plunge, this is just the thing to help them jump-start their new favorite hobby. This kit comes with all the equipment they’ll need to start making their own wine, excluding bottles and ingredients. The conical fermentation chamber by FastFerment will allow them to perform primary and secondary fermentation in the same container, eliminating the hassle of transferring wine between differnet vessels.

2. Winexpert Cabernet Franc Wine Ingredient Kit

Here’s a great gift for seasoned home winemakers or first-timers. Winexpert offers a selection of limited release wine kits each year, and the 2016 lineup includes this Cabernet Franc wine from Yakima Valley in Washington state. This wine is full-bodied with flavors of raspberry, red currant, mint, black pepper, oak and tannins. Order it by December 5th, and we’ll deliver it to you when it arrives in January.

3. Wine Gift Basket

Image: Winebasket.com

Not everyone wants to make their own wine. Some people just want to drink it. If your gift recipient fits into the second category, then a gift basket complete with sweet and salty snacks will do the trick. Winebasket.com offers a variety of wine baskets ranging from modest to ludicrously extravagant.

4. Personalized Wine Glasses

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Nothing says “I support your drinking hobby” like personalized wine glasses. You can customize these glasses with either an initial or a message up to 42 characters in length, and you can purchase a single glass or a set of four. They work well for special occasions or to add style, humor or love to someone’s stemware.

5. Wine Bottle Glass

Image: Bedbathandbeyond.com

This glass may be a little impracticable, but we think it’s hilarious, and anyone who complains about wine glasses being too small should get a kick out of it. It’ll hold a full 750 ml bottle of wine, which means refills should no longer be an issue.

6. The Wine Log Journal

Image: Barnesandnoble.com

There are few things worse than drinking an amazing wine at a restaurant and being unable to remember what it was the next day. This pocket journal doesn’t have space for storing labels, but it’s great for taking along to dinner or social events. It also includes tasting tips and information on wine regions and grape varieties to assist novice tasters.

7. Corkcicle

Here’s a product that we swear by. The Corkcicle is made of BPA-free plastic filled with a reusable freeze gel that will keep your chilled wines cold and bring red wines down to the perfect drinking temperature. Just chill it in the freezer for two hours and then insert it into your wine bottle after pouring your first glass. It’s an elegant and brilliant solution that eliminates the need for an ice bucket.

8. Stackable Wine Glass Rack

Wine people know that storing your stemware can pose problems if they don’t fit in your kitchen cabinets. This cube-shaped storage rack holds 8-16 stems, looks great and saves space by allowing you to stack on top of it. Great for crowded countertops.

9. Mozzarella & Ricotta Cheesemaking Kit

What goes well with wine? Cheese, of course! And just like making wine, making cheese can be a fun activity to do by yourself or with a group. We recommend this 30-Minute Mozzarella and Ricotta Kit, which you can purchase through our store!

10. Ugly Sweater Wine Bottle Bag

Image: Amazon.com

Here’s another one that makes us laugh. Embrace the ugly holiday sweater fad with this tongue-in-cheek bottle bag. Pair it with a bottle of your gift recipient’s favorite wine, and it’ll be sure to put a smile on their face.